Wagering terminals such as the Scientific Games PROBE™ are used by patrons at OTBs (off track betting) or other venues to place wagers on parimutuel events such as horse or greyhound races. As is known to those skilled in the art, the terminals communicate with the OTB's or venue's totalisator to place wagers on individual or multiple races (or games e.g., in the case of Jai-Lai). Details of the operation of these wagering terminals and the totalisators are known in the art and need not be detailed herein.
Paper and cash reliance in the industry leads to arduous accounting, increased risk of fraud, and adds significantly to operational overhead expenses. It is desirable to significantly reduce or eventually eliminate the need for paper-based terminals such as the PROBE™ terminal to handle wagers. In pursuit of this goal, there is a desire to promote account wagering, via either temporary or permanent accounts, and to make account wagering the norm by which all patrons place bets.
As described hereafter, in order to create a truly paperless environment, the inventive terminals and system described herein provide ATM/debit/credit/EDI or equivalent card services to transfer funds between bank and wagering accounts and to provide full account wagering functionality.